Just the other day I came across an article on ‘Autophagy’ ,didn’t know what it meant at the time so after reading further I got to know some really amazing and outstanding facts about our body and its mechanism for detoxification which is called Autophagy ..
Disease has been on the rise for multiple decades. It seems quite clear that things aren’t really getting any better, and with a growing population, the rate of chronic illness seems to be getting worse.
Ask yourself: why are so many people getting sick all the time? Why is disease constantly on the rise? One explanation that many experts are putting forth is the environment.
It’s no secret that we are currently living in a toxic environment, and for those looking to stay in good health, detoxifying is something important we can to do instead of putting so much stress on our internal organs to do it on their own. We need to assist them and we can do it in several different ways.
Anyways so what is Autophagy ? , it means “self” eating, and it’s a process where your body cleans out various toxins and recycles damaged cell components.
The body does a great job of detoxifying itself on its own, and it’s quite amazing. Perhaps this is why some people can smoke, drink, and eat poorly for most of their life and still survive into old age, but that’s not true for the majority of people.
The video above provides a more in-depth biochemical review of the autophagy processes involved in health and disease.
One of the best ways to detoxify your system, and slow the aging process (thus greatly reducing the risk of various age-related diseases) is to assist your body in the process of autophagy.
Exercise
Exercise is a great way to fight disease. Our bodies are built to move, which is something many people don’t do enough of. Exercising alone has been shown to kill cancer cells, because it’s an excellent way to boost the autophagy process.
Clinical trials were conducted to help detoxify people from the Gulf War, and in doing so, results showed that that using a combination of exercise, sauna (detox through sweating), and niacin supplementation, maximized the elimination of toxins through the skin. Not only that, exercise does cause an increase in blood flow and vasodilation.
Scientists have also engineered mice to have glowing green autophagosomes and found that the rate at which the mice were demolishing their own cells (in a healthy way) increased significantly after they ran for 30 minutes on a treadmill. The rate also continued to increase as they ran past the 30 minute mark.
Intermittent Fasting
A number of scientists have been studying fasting these days, and the results are quite remarkable to say the least. One thing it definitely does is boost autophagy. Fasting has a number of other benefits, including regenerating new stem cells, fighting cancer, and reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
When you supply fuel to your mitochondria when they don’t need it, they leak electors that enhance reactive oxygen species as free radicals, and free radicals are extremely damaging. Supplying fuel to your mitochondria (via food) is the opposite of fasting.
Mitochondria is the power source to your cells, and these free radicals damage it.
A study published in the June 5 issue of Cell Stem Cell by researchers from the University of Southern California showed that cycles of prolonged fasting protect against immune system damage and, moreover, induce immune system regeneration. They concluded that fasting shifts stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal. It triggers stem cell based regeneration of an organ or system.
Human clinical trials were conducted using patients who were receiving chemotherapy. For long periods of time, patients did not eat, which significantly lowered their white blood cell counts. In mice, fasting cycles “flipped a regenerative switch, changing the signaling pathways for hematopoietic stem cells, which are responsible for the generation of blood and immune systems.”
This means that fasting kills off old and damaged immune cells, and when the body rebounds, it uses stem cells to create brand new, completely healthy cells.
One well-known option is the “5:2 Diet.” On the 5:2 plan, you cut your food down to one-fourth of your normal daily calories on fasting days (about 600 calories for men and about 500 for women), along with plenty of water and tea. On the other five days of the week, you can eat normally. Another way to do it is to restrict your food intake between the hours of 11 am and 7 pm daily, while not eating during the hours outside of that time.
Watch What You Eat & Monitor Your Protein Intake
This is really a no-brainer: eating healthy organic fruits and vegetables is important. One factor to consider is your protein intake. Today we seem to be bombarded with the idea that a lot of protein is necessary, especially if you are working out quite a bit. Although this may be true, over doing it on protein is definitely not a good idea.
It’s important to watch your protein intake when talking about autophagy, because too much protein will shut down autophagy, which is why it might not be a bad idea to limit your protein intake to about 40-70 grams a day, depending on your body bass. The usual formula health experts use to calculate how much protein your body requires is one gram of protein for every kilogram of lean body mass, or one-half gram per pound of lean body mass.
Hope that you found this article helpful and informative.
Thank you!
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